St. James' Efforts to Feed the Hungry

To all the fast-ers: Keep up the good work!! I am so proud of you.

I am amazed at the organization and pre-planning necessary. I can't help but think about families with children; how do they manage to stay within budget and still plan nutritious meals? I think the unfortunate answer is that most of the time they can't.

I spoke with Leeanna Varga, our Associate for Mission, on Friday about the Fast. I wanted to find out more about how St. James' helps fight hunger in our local community. Our church makes regular food donations to the Yorkville Common Pantry (more about this organization in a separate post), hosts a weekly Tuesday Lunch Program (serving approximately 70 guests) and a Friday Dinner Program, (serving approximately 80 guests). There are always opportunities to be involved - volunteers are always needed to help cook, serve and clean...and no experience is necessary!

One of the easiest ways to get involved is to consider donating food to the Yorkville Common Pantry. St. James' makes it easy: just bring your non-perishable food items anytime to the baskets located in the church nave. In addition, a food item offering is taken during the services on the first Sunday of each month. I learned from Leeanna that Vicki Hall, our Director of Children's and Family Ministries, has asked the children of our congregation to be involved by helping collect food and canned goods from members of the congregation. What a great way to help our children learn about helping others!

An interesting note: the basket used to collect food items during Sunday worship is a gift from our mission partners in Malawi. I love the idea of our friends around the world helping to fight hunger here in New York.
-Annie